Recent searches
Search options
Administered by:
Energy cost is going negative in California in the spring.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2024/04/22/california-solar-duck-curve-rooftop/?pwapi_token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJyZWFzb24iOiJnaWZ0IiwibmJmIjoxNzEzNzU4NDAwLCJpc3MiOiJzdWJzY3JpcHRpb25zIiwiZXhwIjoxNzE1MTQwNzk5LCJpYXQiOjE3MTM3NTg0MDAsImp0aSI6IjRlYTE1ZjM4LTk3ODQtNDVhYy05MjZlLWRjYjgxNGNhMmY5ZSIsInVybCI6Imh0dHBzOi8vd3d3Lndhc2hpbmd0b25wb3N0LmNvbS9jbGltYXRlLWVudmlyb25tZW50LzIwMjQvMDQvMjIvY2FsaWZvcm5pYS1zb2xhci1kdWNrLWN1cnZlLXJvb2Z0b3AvIn0.oWYOHLgrSaZNKLvmYZ45KaNCBacVFoD7USdTV2JwmNA
@manlycoffee Time to invest in an energy storage solution for off peak hours, even if you don't have solar?
@manlycoffee easy solution: MOAR BATTERIES.
@manlycoffee
LOL
"Renewable sources are producing too much energy. We have to stop it!"
@manlycoffee Let's just go back to burning cow shit. That'll fix the problem.
Eh, I'd rather not be that cynical about it. I do see good news in the headline: we're producing way more energy than what the grid can handle.
Don't get me wrong. I could see it being a problem.
Money doesn't grow on trees. Whoever is responsible for overlooking the grid now has expiring surplus energy on hand, but still expected to reimburse the homeowners who produced said energy.
What solutions are there for dealing with that surplus? Batteries? How long will it take to set up a battery station? What's the startup cost for that?
@manlycoffee @Nuncio one interesting solution that is easy and cheap, though maybe not as efficient, is a sand battery.
It's just an insulated silo full of sand with heating elements and pipes running through it. Sand can get much hotter than water so it has a much greater heat capacity. If you just want heat back out, which isn't that useful in California, run water through the pipes to extract the energy. If you want electricity add a turbine and suffer some losses.
There's also gravity batteries, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gravity_battery
@manlycoffee @Nuncio here's a link, though not with much more info than I posted above, https://interestingengineering.com/innovation/worlds-first-sand-battery